Table

ABSTRACT

Each of the four corners of the tempered glass plate in a chrome and glass table rests in a recessed portion of a different one of four fasteners, each of which has a cylindrical shape and is inserted in a different one of four tubular legs of the table. Each recessed portion and corner of the glass plate is covered by a suitably decorative cap to hold the glass plate onto the fastener, which supports it on a leg of the table. The legs of the table are held rigidly together by leg braces which are tubes of smaller diameter than the legs, inserted through suitable apertures in the legs where they are fastened, such as by machine screws, to form a rigid table structure.

United States Patent [191 Jay [451 Oct. 7, 1975 TABLE [76] Inventor: Walter M. Jay, 16 Tweed Rd., Fox

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1963 Schwartz 248/188 5/1964 Luhrs 3,464,662 9/1969 Myers... 248/188 3,711,133 1/1973 Werner 248/188.1

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 874,952 4/1953 Germany 108/159 189,611 6/1937 Switzerland 108/156 Primary ExaminerRoy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Darrell Marquette Attorney, Agent, or FirmVincent L. Carney ABSTRACT Each of the four corners of the tempered glass plate in a chrome and glass table rests in a recessed portion of a different one of four fasteners, each of which has a cylindrical shape and is inserted in a different one of four tubular legs of the table. Each recessed portion and corner of the glass plate is covered by a suitably decorative cap to hold the glass plate onto the fastener, which supports it on a leg of the table. The legs of the table are held rigidly together by leg braces which are tubes of smaller diameter than the legs, inserted through suitable apertures in the legs where they are fastened, such as by machine screws, to form a rigid table structure.

3 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures 28 FIG. 1

US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,910,206

FIG. 5

FIG. 6

FIG. 8

U.S. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet 3 of 3 3,910,206

TABLE This invention relates to tables and has special application to small decorative tables used as pedestals or stands.

One class of small decorative table includes a plate of tempered glass supported by chrome legs. In a prior art type of decorative table of this class, the legs of the table are braced by a chrome ledge with the plate glass being supported on the chrome ledge.

This type of prior art table has several disadvantages, such as: l it is expensive and difficult to fabricate be cause of the cost of the chrome ledge upon which the glass or other top plate rests and the high cost of assembling the chrome ledge to the;chrome legs in a manner that is decorative and pleasing to the eye; (2) it is difficult to remove the glass plate should it require replacement; and (3) the glass plate easily becomes misaligned by accidental bumping.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to pro vide a novel table.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a relatively inexpensive, decorative table.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a table of the type generally designated as chrome and glass tables in which the glass plate is mounted to the legs of the table by decorative inserts that hold and align the glass plate.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide convenient fasteners for mounting a glass plate to the chrome legs of a table, with the fasteners being easily insertable into the ends of the legs and supporting the glass directly.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide an inexpensive and decorative structure bracing the legs of a table.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a chrome and glass table in which the glass plate is not easily bumped and does not easily become misaligned.

In accordance with the above and further objects of the invention, fasteners which hold the top plate of glass of a table to the legs include a first portion which is inserted into a leg and a second portion adapted to receive a corner of the top of the table to support and align the corner of the table, with a fastener cap fitting over the corner of the table and providing a decorative effect. The legs of the table are braced by tubular leg braces having a smaller diameter than the legs and passing through openings into the legs where they are fastened by machine screws, thus extending beyond the edge of the glass plate so as to reduce bumping of the glass plate.

The table of this invention has the advantages of: l being highly decorative; (2) relatively easy to fabricate and assemble; (3) having legs spaced below the glass plate and extending slightly beyond it to prevent accidental bumping of the glass plate; and (4) providing positive alignment of the glass plate to securely hold it in place. I

The above-noted and other features of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a table including an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the embodiment of FIG.l;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view of a leg of a table taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 2 showing portions of the leg braces for the table in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of a leg of a table taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5 showing the manner in which the braces are affixed to the leg;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view ofa portion of a fastener for tables in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is an elevational view of the fastener of FIG. 7 taken in the direction of lines 8-8 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an elevational view of a cap for the fastener of FIGS. 7 and 8 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary broken-away view of the top ofa leg of the table of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of another embodiment of a fastener in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 I;

In FIG. I, there is shown a perspective view of a tempered-glass and chrome table or stand 20 having four tubular chrome upstanding legs 22A22D, four lower chrome leg braces 24A-24D, four upper chrome leg braces 26A-26D, a top glass plate 28, and four platealigning and supporting fasteners 30A-30D.

The four vertically-upstanding legs 22A22D are connected together by the upper and lower horizontal leg braces 24A-24D and 26A-26D, with the top plate of tempered glass 28 being held in proper alignment on the top ends of the four legs 22A22D by the four plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30A30D.

In the preferred embodiment the legs 22A22D and the horizontal leg braces 24A-24D and 26A26D are cylindrical tubes of steel with chrome plating. However, materials other than chrome-plated steel may be used and other shapes of tubes may be used without deviating from the main principles of the invention. Moreover, plastic, steel plate, wood, composition or other materials may in some instances be substituted for the tempered-glass plate 28 and-the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30A30D may be of several different ornamental designs and materials. While a relatively small table is shown in FIG. 1, the invention may be applied to larger tables or other pedestal-type structures utilizing upstanding legs and a flat supporting top.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper and lower leg braces are cylindrical tubes of smaller diameter than the legs 22., with the leg braces 24A and 26A on one side of the pedestal 20 being higher up on the legs 22 than the leg braces 24D and 26D on the adjacent side. The leg braces on opposite sides of the pedestal are at the same height, with the leg braces 24 and 26 passing through brace openings in the legs 22 and being fastened therewithin by machine screws 36 threaded through the walls of the legs and into closed ends of the braces from the diametrically-opposite side of the legs from the brace openings.

To support the plate 28 at the top of the four legs 22, the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30A30D each include two parts, which are a base 32 and a cap 34. As best shown in the plan view of FIG. 4, each corner of the plate glass 28 fits within a different base 32A-32D of the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30A-30D and is covered by a corresponding one of the caps 34A-34D, with each corner extending to the center point of a fastener 30A-30D.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown a portion of the leg 22A, with a portion of the leg brace 26A broken away in FIG. 5 to show the screw 36 and closure 37. As shown in these figures, the leg braces 24 and 26 are of smaller diameter than the legs of the table 22, with the legs of the table having an outer diameter of approximately 2 inches while the leg braces have an outer diameter of five-eights of an inch in the preferred embodiment. The leg braces 24 and 26 cross each other within the legs 22, with the braces 24 being spaced a substantial distance from the braces 26. The braces 24 that cross each other in a leg 22 and the braces 26 that cross each other in a leg 22 are relatively close to each other.

While in the preferred embodiment the leg braces are fastened to the tubular legs by machine screws, other alternate methods of fastening may obviously be used. For example, the ends of the leg braces may be reduced in diameter, with the shoulder on each end abutting the edge walls of a brace opening and the reduced diameter end extending through the opposite side of the leg and being covered with a cap to hold it from retraction into the leg. The method of fastening and the relationship between the legs and the leg braces is generally the same for both the upper and lower leg braces.

In FIG. 7, there is shown, in a perspective view, the base 32 of one of the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners having a platealigning section 38 with a diameter equal to the outer diameter of the legs 22, connected on one side by a first shoulder to a cylindrical plug section 40 of reduced diameter that fits within the legs 22 and on its other side by a second shoulder to a cylindrical cap-holding section 42 also of reduced diameter.

To align and hold the plate 28, the aligning section 38 has a recessed portion 44 having a top surface area equal to one-fourth of the top surface area of a leg and extending approximately two-thirds of the way into the aligning section, with the recessed portion having a shape similar to a cut from a pie, equal to one-fourth of the pie and extending to its center. This recessed portion 44 is shaped to receive a corner of the plate 28.

The plug section 40 includes two radially-extending projections or keys 46 and 47 that extend outwardly to the surface area of the aligning section 38 and have a radius of curvature equal at this point to the curvature of the aligning section. The keys 46 and 47 are each positioned with respect to the recessed portion 44 and with respect to two keyways in the leg 22 so that, when the keys 46 and 47 are inserted into the keyways, the recessed portion 44 is positioned to receive a properlyaligned plate 28 for a pedestal 20.

The cap section 42 has a diameter reduced to receive the cap 34 of the plate-aligning and supporting fastener 30. The recessed portion 44 extends through the capholding section 42 for convenience in fabrication. However, the recessed portion has a depth in the aligning section 38 alone equal to the width of the plate 28 so that the plate 28 does not extend into the recessed portion within the cap-holding section 42 in the preferred embodiment, and thus, it is possible to have a recessed portion filled by the plate 28 extending partly within the aligning section 38 and partly in the capholding section 42, in which case the cap would have a relief on its lower edge to accomodate the plate. This embodiment may be useful where it is desired to align a design on the cap with the rest of the table,

In FIG. 9, there is shown the cap 34 for the platealigning and supporting fastener 30, which in the perferred embodiment is chrome-plated steel having a top portion 50 which is generally circular in cross-section and slopes downwardly from the center to a downwardly-turned flange or wall 52 of sufficient length to fit over the cap-holding portion 42 in a conformable manner. The outer diameter of the cap 34 is equal to the outer diameter of the aligning section 38 and the legs 22 in the preferred embodiment although other decorative effects may be obtained by using a larger or smaller cap or a cap may be entirely omitted. The cap may be of a hard plastic rather than chrome-plated steel and may be of some color such as black.

In FIG. 10, there is shown a fragmentary view of the top of the leg 22A of an assembled table, partly broken away to show the corner of the plate 28 in the recess 44, with the cap 34 and the base 32 of the platealigning and supporting fastener 30A seated in the leg 22A. The cap 34 is fitted tightly upon the cap-holding section 42 of the plate-aligning and supporting fastener 30A to hold the plate 28 in place, with the keys 46 and 47 within keyways in the leg 22A. As shown in this figure, the plate-aligning and supporting fastener 30A fits tightly and decoratively within the leg 22A to support the top plate 28 a distance from the leg braces 26 and 24.

In FIGS. 11 and 12, there is shown an alternate embodiment of plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 54 having a cap 56 and a base section 58. The cap 56 includes two downwardly-extending studs 60 and 62 which fit conformably into bores 64 within the base 58 to hold the cap 56 in place.

In this embodiment, the cap 56 has a circular crosssection with a top extending downwardly from a point and studs extending from a bottom surface which hold the cap to the base 58. The recessed portion 44, the keys 46 and 47, and the plug section 40 are the same in the embodiment of FIGS. 11 and 12 in the previously-described embodiments and bear the same numerals, the sole difference being in the manner in which the cap is supported and the section of the base 58 that supports the cap.

While the preferred embodiment includes generally cylindrical plate-aligning and supporting fasteners each having a recessed portion extending to its center, other shapes of fasteners such as square, rectangular and the like may be used and the recess may extend beyond the center or be short of the center. However, so as to prevent excessive bumping of the glass plate, the recess should not extend beyond the projected intersection of the outer edges of the leg braces so that the edges of the leg braces are further out from the table than the edges of the glass plate.

AlthoughFIG. 1 shows a table having one top 28, the

invention may, in another embodiment. include a plurality of spaced-apart tops, one above the other, to form shelves. In this embodiment the top fasteners 30 generally include a cap 34 but lower shelves are inserted in fasteners 30 without caps, the bottoms of the legs 22 fitting tightly around the cap-holding section 42 and resting on the shoulder between the cap-holding section 42 and the plate-aligning section 38 for shelves above the first shelf. In this embodiment, the bottom of the legs 22 must, of course, be shaped as a female plug to fit over the cap-holding section. If the plate 28 is not glass, it may be held by a screw to the fastener 30 so as to aid in supporting the legs 22, thus permitting some or all of the leg braces 24 and 26 to be eliminated.

To assemble the table 20, the upper and lower leg braces 24 and 26 are first assembled to the legs 22, with the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30 and the plate 28 being assembled to the table after the leg braces are fastened in place.

To assemble the leg braces 24 and 26, each end of each leg brace is inserted into a different one of the apertures in the legs 22, and the machine screws 36 are threaded through the opposite walls of the legs and into the tapped holes in the closures 47 to hold the braces in place.

To assemble the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners and the plate 28, the base 32 of the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30 are each inserted into the top of a different one of the four legs-22A-22D with the keys 46 and 47 sliding into the keyways at the top of each of the legs 22A-22D so that the recessed portions 44 of the bases 32 each face inwardly with their sides being aligned with the sides of the recessed portions 44 of the bases 32 in the adjacent legs and each inner corner of each recessed portion 44 opening toward the corner in the base 32 of the plate-aligning and supporting fastener 30 diagonally across from it.

After the bases 32A-32D have been inserted in the tops of the corresponding ones of the legs 22A-22D, the plate 28 is inserted with each of its four corners fitting within a different one of the recessed portions 44 in the corresponding bases 32A-32D of the platealigning and supporting fasteners 30A-30D.

With the plate 28 in place, the caps 34A-34D of the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30A30D are, in one embodiment, inserted over the cap-holding portion 42 of the corresponding plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 30. In another embodiment, the caps 56 are mounted over the bases 58 of the plate-aligning and supporting fasteners 54A-54D, with the studs 60 and 62 projecting within corresponding bores 64 of the corresponding bases 58.

The table of this invention has the advantages of: (1 being highly decorative; (2) relatively easy to fabricate and assemble, primarily because of the ease with which the plates 28 may be assembled to the platealigning and supporting fasteners or 54 but also because of the ease with which the leg braces 24 and 26 are assembled to the legs 22 to support the legs 22; (3) reducing the likelihood of the plate 28 being bumped since the leg braces extend outwardly from the table beyond the edge of the plate 28; and (4) providing positive alignment of the top 28 with the rest of the table.

Although an embodiment of the invention has been described with some particularity, many modifications and variations in the invention are possible within the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be under- What is claimed is: 1. Apparatus for supporting parts of a table that includes table legs and a table top comprising:

table top supporting means adapted to receive and support at least one portion of the table top;

leg mounting means on said table top supporting means adapted to mount said table top supporting means to at least one leg of a table;

first positioning means for positioning said leg mounting means in a fixed orientation with a leg of a table;

second positioning means on said table top supporting means for positioning said table top in a fixed orientation with said table top supporting means;

said table legs being tubular;

said first positioning means including a key and a keyway;

one of said tubular legs and said leg mounting means including said key and the other including said keysaid table top supporting means having an external surface the same size and shape as said leg,

whereby said table top supporting means fits adjacent to said leg in a conformable manner;

said leg mounting means having an external surface approximately the same size as the internal surface of a portion of said leg;

said key being mounted to said leg mounting means and extending therefrom a distance substantially the same as the thickness of said tubular leg wall;

said keyway having internal walls conformably fitting about said key, whereby said key provides a surface adjacent to the walls of said table leg;

'said second positioning means having a recessed portion in said table top supporting means with internal walls conforming to at least a portion of said table top;

said table top supporting means and table legs each having longitudinal axes positioned to be substantially coincident with each other when a leg mounting means is mounted to the corresponding leg of the table;

said internal walls of said recessed portion being entirely on one side of a diameter passing through the longitudinal axis of the table top supporting means orthogonally thereto, whereby said recessed portion occupies less than one half of the crosssectional area of the table top supporting means;

said internal walls of said recessed portion forming a rectangular corner adapted to receive the corner of a table top having the shape of a right parallelepiped; and

a cap shaped to fit over said one portion of said table top and at least a portion of said leg mounting means.

2. Apparatus according to, claim 1 further including:

a plurality of leg braces connecting adjacent ones of said table legs;

said leg braces being tubular and having a smaller outer size than said table legs;

said table legs having internal walls defining an aperture into which said leg braces may fit.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which at least one end of certain of said leg braces is fastened to the internal wall of said table legs. 

1. Apparatus for supporting parts of a table that includes table legs and a table top comprising: table top supporting means adapted to receive and support at least one portion of the table top; leg mounting means on said table top supporting means adapted to mount said table top supporting means to at least one leg of a table; first positioning means for positioning said leg mounting means in a fixed orientation with a leg of a table; second positioning means on said table top supporting means for positioning said table top in a fixed orientation with said table top supporting means; said table legs being tubular; said first positioning means including a key and a keyway; one of said tubular legs and said leg mounting means including said key and the other including said keyway; said table top supporting means having an external surface the same size and shape as said leg, whereby said table top supporting means fits adjacent to said leg in a conformable manner; said leg mounting means having an external surface approximately the same size as the internal surface of a portion of said leg; said key being mounted to said leg mounting means and extending therefrom a distance substantially the same as the thickness of said tubular leg wall; said keyway having internal walls conformably fitting about said key, whereby said key provides a surface adjacent to the walls of said table leg; said second positioning means having a recessed portion in said table top supporting means with internal walls conforming to at least a portion of said table top; said table top supporting means and table legs each having longitudinal axes Positioned to be substantially coincident with each other when a leg mounting means is mounted to the corresponding leg of the table; said internal walls of said recessed portion being entirely on one side of a diameter passing through the longitudinal axis of the table top supporting means orthogonally thereto, whereby said recessed portion occupies less than one half of the crosssectional area of the table top supporting means; said internal walls of said recessed portion forming a rectangular corner adapted to receive the corner of a table top having the shape of a right parallelepiped; and a cap shaped to fit over said one portion of said table top and at least a portion of said leg mounting means.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further including: a plurality of leg braces connecting adjacent ones of said table legs; said leg braces being tubular and having a smaller outer size than said table legs; said table legs having internal walls defining an aperture into which said leg braces may fit.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which at least one end of certain of said leg braces is fastened to the internal wall of said table legs. 